Move to halt conformity bill fails, 8-61

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, moved to “lay on the table” HB 425, the tax conformity bill, a motion that would prevent the bill from being taken up with a two-thirds vote. “The problem I have with this bill is by conforming to the federal definition of marriage … what we’re going to be doing is we’re going to be allowing the Tax Commission to recognize same-sex marriage, which is against our state Constitution,” she told the House. “If we want to do that, we need to remove this amendment from our Constitution, because voting on this bill will be against our state Constitution, and that’s what we’ve taken an oath to uphold. I’d like to make a motion to lay this bill on the table until we can deal with our state constitution issue.”

Her motion fell short on an 8-61 vote. The eight "yes" votes were from Reps. Dixon, Jordan, King, McCrostie, Nate, Nielsen, Scott and Shepherd - that's five Republicans and three Democrats.